Geri Body Yoga

The DVD is divided into five sections:
Warm up; Sun and Moon; Strength; Chill
and Bliss. The practice is 90 minutes
long. There is an interesting mini-
documentary that shows you how the
video was put together and what could
be called, a workout blender, that
allows to you reorganise the five
sections.

The warm up is one of the most
relaxing and interesting yoga warm ups
I've done. You begin in savasana and
slowly move through the poses taking
care to stretch out your back until you
feel very relaxed and warmed up.

The Sun and Moon section is chaptered
in a way that allows you to skip the sun
or the moon salutations. Katy leads you
through three different versions, the
first of which is the modified slower
paced sun sals ending with what Katy
calls the "pure astanga" version sun
salutation. The sun section is as
invigorating as it is relaxing.

The moon salutations were absolutely
great :) I loved what Katy called "The
Lion" and it's worth doing the moon
section twice. It is so much fun to do :)

The Strength section is short and
consists of Warriors, triangles, a wide
legged forward bend or two and
balance poses. Throughout Sun and
Moon, and Strength I felt relaxed
enough to have fallen asleep in any of
the poses. Very unusual even for a
sleepaholic like me.

Next is Bliss, which calls for
shoulderstands, plough, wheel, forward
bends and more. I felt rejuvenated. Chill
came last of all and I'm happy to say
that it was no trouble to lie flat in
savasana.

Katy is a very good instructor, who
checks on Geri and Nate's form
regularly. She helps Nate into a
modification and Geri into a deeper
version of the pose. The modifications
shown are very useful especially the
shoulderstand variations. Katy's
attention to stretching and safety really
won me over. I began this practice
feeling tense and tired. My back was
sore and I couldn't manage to lie flat in
savasana. By the end I felt completely at
ease and very relaxed.

There are little breaks between each
section, which breaks the flow a little
bit. Geri's shorts are a bit short, which
might bother some people. There is a
little bit of humour, which made me
laugh out loud but instead of feeling
distracted, it helped me to relax more.

This is a very good practice for people
with back problems and I believe, for
beginners. The modifcations shown are
some of the best I've seen on a yoga
video. You don't have to be a fan of the
Spice Girls or Geri Halliwell to enjoy this
practice (I am not). This is a genuine
production and one I felt was definitely
worth owning.

Instructor Comments:
Katy Appleton, formerly a professional
ballet dancer who trained at the Royal
Ballet School and English National Ballet
School (full bio here: http://www.appleyoga.com/katy_01.htm )
leads former Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell
and a chap called Nate Dushku who
demonstrates modifications. According
to her bio, she is a Sivananda trained
teacher of yoga. Her vocal style is very
British and clear.